Remembering Jimmy Carter

Today was designated as a national day of mourning for former president Jimmy Carter. He's the earliest president that I can remember. Nixon was in office when I was born, and Ford was in until I was 3, but the first guy that I can remember seeing on TV was Carter. It's astonishing to see that he lived to be 100, and while history hasn't been all that kind to his presidency, he lived an extraordinary life of public service.

Obviously I was too young to have any sense of Carter's politics or his time in the White House, but I actually did learn a little bit about him in high school civics class. It was a rare education win in a system that rarely gets beyond World War I for history. There really weren't a lot of levers for him to pull to deal with inflation and gas shortages, and I'm sure the Iran hostage thing and the Soviets invading Afghanistan were the last nail in the coffin as far as his reelection goes. It's kind of a shame, because when I see his speeches at the time, he was practical about the times. Americans clearly were not interested in conserving energy or temporarily limiting consumption of everything at the time. Some things never change.

But I don't think you can overstate the importance of the Camp David Accords. We're nearing a half-century of peace between Israel and Egypt, a rare bright spot in Middle East peace, and the biggest win of any president since. He was the only president in my lifetime that was as committed to peace, and aspirational about it in a way that frankly no world leaders are. Any sentiment like that today would be dismissed as weak, and that's unfortunate.

Carter's record on the environment was historic, establishing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He established the Department of Education. He was the first president to start moving toward employment equality for what we now refer to as LGBTQ folks. He tried to make universal healthcare happen. He always saw potential in the good that government could do, before Reagan did his best to sow mistrust in it.

A lot of his legacy is in his post-presidency life, including diplomacy that was sometimes unwelcome by sitting presidents, especially Clinton. He wrote a ton of books. What always stood out to me is that well into his 80's, and to a lesser degree his 90's, was his commitment to Habitat For Humanity. There are a lot of non-profits that do good work, but few have the dramatic, local impact that Habitat has. He lifted a hammer for as long as his body would allow him to.

More than anything though, what I find remarkable is that his whole life was dedicated to public service. Whether he was after world peace or building a house for someone in his community, he was intent on leaving the world a better place than it was when he entered it. I can't say that I'm even remotely that way, and I certainly can't say it about many politicians. Regardless of policy positions, it's that character, dignity and integrity that we should demand from elected people. This is especially true when it comes to the White House. My visit there last year was somewhat transformative for me, because it really made real the seriousness and importance of the office. I hope that we eventually get back to valuing that seriousness for the highest office in the land.